Block Monetises Cash App Score, Offering Real-Time Credit Signal to Outside Lenders Through Nova Credit
Block Monetises Cash App Score, Offering Real-Time Credit Signal to Outside Lenders Through Nova Credit #
Block has announced it will make its proprietary Cash App Score available to external lenders for the first time, partnering with credit infrastructure firm Nova Credit to distribute the signal through Nova’s Cash Flow Intelligence Platform.
Announced on September 1, the move takes the technology from an internal risk management tool to a commercially available underwriting input for the broader lending market. The Cash App Score draws on millions of real-time, first-party data signals generated across the Cash App ecosystem, including spending patterns, saving behaviour, repayment history, paycheck deposits and peer-to-peer activity. According to the company, the score provides a continuously updated picture of a consumer’s financial health, reflecting macroeconomic shifts in near real-time rather than relying on lagging indicators common in traditional credit reporting.
Consumers will not be required to link new accounts or provide fresh credentials for lenders to access the score. It will instead be embedded directly into underwriting workflows that Nova Credit’s existing clients already use, reducing the integration work for participating institutions.
Block said the Cash App Score will be made available across lending verticals where Cash App itself does not operate, including credit cards, auto loans, device financing, personal loans and tenant screening. The company framed the partnership as a way to extend credit access to consumers who are frequently underserved or invisible to conventional credit models.
In Cash App Borrow, Block’s short-term lending product where the scoring technology has been running longest, the system approves 38 percent more applicants at an equivalent loss rate compared to traditional credit scores, according to Block.
Juan Hernandez, Block’s head of credit and underwriting, said in the announcement that the score was built specifically to capture financial activity among consumers that the traditional credit system misses, and that the Nova Credit partnership would allow that capability to reach lenders through infrastructure they already trust.
Misha Esipov, co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit, described the integration as giving lenders a richer, near real-time view of tens of millions of credit-seeking Americans. Both companies plan to discuss the partnership further at the Cash Flow Intelligence Summit in New York City on September 10.
The arrangement also positions Block as a data licensor alongside its existing role as a financial services operator, potentially opening a new revenue stream tied to Cash App’s user base.
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